Sylvia's Journal

After a semi sleepless night during which the welcome port wine came as a great solace I struggled with climate control, mostly my own internal thermostat which is terribly off kilter; I had the windows to my balcony open to let the cool air night come in but it also brought in a mosquito. I ended up with the airco on and the mosquito frozen out.

After a leisurely breakfast M., who is leaving tonight for frozen Amsterdam, gave everyone goodbye hugs, including innkeepers and fellow guests. She has become the missing daughter for all of them it seemed. The guesthouse staff lined up for her to sing the African national hymn in two part harmony. It was all very sweet. She is a regular – I am not quite in a hugging relationship with them as I only stayed there two nights and will only touchdown briefly in between my assignments in Namibia and Lesotho. We hoisted our suitcases in the car and drove down the hill to the office.

I continued my interviews with the senior staff to get a handle on how to design the so-called teambuilding that is one of my three assignments. I am looking for (and finding) themes around which to organize our precious time together. I will discuss those with the boss tonight who is awaiting my arrival in Windhoek, Namibia.

Now I am turning my attention to my other assignment which is with the project’s clients, two public institutions. My colleague from Nigeria, the project manager, has gotten his long awaited visa to Namibia. The good Nigerians carry the terrible burden of being associated with a bad brand. Few countries are eager to give visas to carriers of a Nigerian passport. I had all but given up on working side by side with him in Namibia and we had agreed on nightly skype calls so he could download whatever I learned or did. The good news is that now we can work together in the same place. He will probably join me on Saturday, in time for a weekend huddle.

I had already boarded the plane to Namibia at the appointed hour (5:15PM) when the captain announced that ‘a component’ needed to be replaced. There was a long wait and then we got the thumbs down, invited to leave the plane and board the bus circling half the airport back to the gate area. There were many sighs and one man pounded his fist on the chair next to him. I thought ‘better on the ground wishing to be up there than being in the air wishing to be on the ground.’
Our new departure time is announced on the big screen as ‘departure 6:15+. The plus sign is a little ominous, especially since most of the flights above and below it read, in the comment column, ‘indefinite.’ I am well prepared for a long wait: book, computer and smart phone will give me something to do with or without electricity.

My colleague handling the third assignment in Lesotho is asking for more of my time. In fact he was the original requester of my presence and others just hopped on board. He wants me to stay till the 14th at which point another project said, well then, this comes very close to a need we have for facilitation several days after that. I like working here so I would say fine except that I am not a one person show and need to run things by others. And then of course there are other trips lined up in April.